Family Matters
by BonesBird
Summary: Just some Paris family fluff, Miral names the new baby and Tom and B'Elanna toast their 6th anniversary.


**Title: Family Matters  
****Summary: Just some Paris family fluff, Miral names the new baby and Tom and B'Elanna toast their 6****th**** anniversary.  
****Lyrics: I Wanna Hold You – What's Eating Gilbert**

**A little piece of Paris family fluff, inspired by the wonderful Jekkah and the adorable Faye444. I felt the need to write a little bit of fluff since I've been writing a lot of angst lately. Much thanks to Bren for reading through this for me.**

**If you want some cheerful music to listen to this summer, look up the wonderful "What's Eating Gilbert". He's got 5 EPs that are well worth a listen. Particularly this song, "Complaining" and "Like It's The Last Time".**

* * *

_**And if you decide that I'm not right  
**__**That I'm not right for you in time  
**__**And if you decide that it's not right  
**__**That you need someone always by your side**_

* * *

He hastily threw his clothes into the recycler, for two weeks it had only been his 5 year old and him in their apartment. His wife had been directing the calibration of a warp drive, and had decided to stay at Utopia Planitia to reduce the travelling stress for the baby. So today he had picked Miral up early from school, and was doing some last minute cleaning before leaving to meet her outside Medical only a few blocks away. As he straightened again, picking up a couple of Miral's toys he spotted her climbing on the table, he walked over and picked her off it "Don't climb on that Mir."

"But daddy" she whined, turning her electric blue eyes on him with a look of pure innocence. It was a look she had developed at around three days old, and it still worked well for her now, more than 5 years on. He kissed her cheek and put her down, grabbing the book he'd wrapped for B'Elanna and holding his hand out to Miral.

"Don't 'but daddy' me, come on kiddo, we need to go meet mommy" He smiled as Miral jumped and grabbed his hand. He knew she had missed B'Elanna as well, possibly even more than Tom himself had. Although he'd enjoyed the time to bond with her, his bed had felt empty without her form beside him, and Miral's mornings had been much slower and less healthy while she'd been away.

"Dad, where is mom?" Miral asked as he reset the lock on the door behind them and lead her down the corridor. She looked up at him, almost tripping over her feet while she didn't pay attention, causing him to stifle a laugh.

"She needed to go see the doctor" he said, gripping her hand tighter as they walked onto the street, no matter how safe Earth was, he still worried about her safety whenever they weren't in the house. She tugged him in the direction of the Starfleet grounds, a route she'd had memorised as long as she could walk.

"Will we get a new picture of the baby?" she squeaked excitedly, the excitement in her voice always made him smile. He and B'Elanna had worried how she would react to the news she'd be getting a sibling, but she had been excited in the end, especially after meeting Harry's daughter, Melody, a few weeks earlier. She had been fascinated by how small she was. He'd had to explain that their new baby would be a little bigger than Melody, because the baby wasn't just human. Miral had been confused, and had decided that she was magic. A tug on his arm reminded him she was waiting on an answer "Daddy, will we?"

"I don't know, have you decided if you want a brother or a sister yet" He asked, trying to distract her from asking about the baby as they entered the park, he loosened his grip on her hand, smiling at the other officers and children he could see running around in the summer sunshine.

"I don't want either. Mommy's having a puppy" Miral said, shaking off his hand all together and stopping, putting her hands on her hips in a gesture she'd picked up during a week-long visit with her aunt Kathryn. He stopped a few steps ahead of her and turned round, looking at her with a combination of exasperation and amusement, she was her aunt in miniature when she pulled that stance. He reached for her hand again and sighed.

"Mir, we talked about this"

"Katie at school's mom was having a baby and they got a puppy" she argued, following behind him ever so slightly, getting her hand free again but keeping step with him.

"They got a baby too, baby Jack" he pointed out, and that moment he spotted B'Elanna coming out of the doors at the other end of the park, it would only be a minute before his eagle-eyed daughter spotted her. He could sense her shaking her head. He was probably going to have to get her a puppy at this rate.

"But the puppy came first. Mom!" his daughter ran off down the path to where B'Elanna was struggling her way up the path with what looked like a bag of padds over her shoulder. He followed his daughter, and smiled as he heard her shrill voice, telling her mother all about her day at school, he voice carrying further than he'd expected.

"And, my reading is good, Mrs Jones said so, I read the whole book and only made two mistakes, but she said that didn't matter because they were really hard words, and we started making a rocket and mine was the only one that actually took off because"

"Mir, honey, take a breath. How was it" his wife asked as they met halfway along the path, he shook his head at her as he took the bag of padds from her and slung them over his shoulder. She only tugged on the strap a couple of times before allowing him to take it.

"Great, we didn't trash the house" he stopped allowing himself to smile as B'Elanna narrowed her eyes at him. He picked Miral up and smiled at her "Did we Mir? How did it go, how is the baby?"

"He's fine, I'm fine, we're both doing well. Doc's estimating 35 weeks, just like I went with Miral"

"Only 12 weeks left to go then" He grinned, and he saw the exhaustion on B'Elanna's face, he took her hand, heading towards the closest entryway and leading his little family out onto the streets again. "Mir's decided we're having a boy puppy" he smiled, putting her down and letting her take the lead to their favourite restaurant.

"If this baby has fur I'll be wondering what radiation I was exposed to" B'Elanna muttered, leaning her head on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. They walked in silence a little way until Miral dropped back and took her mothers' hand.

"Mom, does the baby have a name yet?"

"Not yet, what do you think he should be called?" B'Elanna looked down to her, and Tom leant around her to see their eldest, who had her thinking face on.

"I think he should be called after grandpa."

"John?" B'Elanna asked,

"Not your daddy silly," Tom laughed loudly, only Miral would ever get away with calling B'Elanna 'silly'. B'Elanna shot him a look that told him to shut up, so he wisely stopped while Miral finished her thought "my other grandpa. Dad's daddy. "

"Owen? What do you think?" B'Elanna looked at him, he thought back to his father, they had had their problems, but before he died they were working things out, and Owen had adored Miral, he nodded, squeezing B'Elanna's hand

"I think dad would have liked it"

"Owen it is. Good choice Mir" B'Elanna ruffled her hair as they reached the place, and they stood in the queue to be seated, Miral looking impatiently towards the small play area in the back of the main room.

"Can we have pizza for dinner?" she asked as the waitress came alongside them and started leading them to a table.

"Sure" He laughed as his daughter skipped into the mess hall, running straight to the table where a few of the other children were playing, he wrapped his arm around his wife while they waited. "Miral and Owen Paris"

"Our children, who'd have thought?" B'Elanna asked with a smile on her face, they both watched Miral as she introduced herself to one of the other children and started colouring with them.

"Best 6th wedding anniversary I could ask for, happy anniversary Bee" he grinned then kissed her as hard as he could, resting a hand on the bump that contained their youngest.

"Let's hope we have a few more in us" she smiled as she pulled away and gave their order, he pulled her back into his side a second after the order was given.

"I think we have many more" he whispered in her ear before kissing her again.

"Ewww. Stop kissing!" Shouted a little voice a minute or so later, he leant back a little and turned to his little one with a grin.

"I'll kiss you then" Tom laughed and picked his daughter up kissing her cheek, so thankful for his unborn son, his wonderful daughter and his beautiful wife. There were so many decisions he regretted, but he was glad he'd made them all, as without them he wouldn't have his family, and nothing meant more to him than them.


End file.
